Old Covenant vs New Covenant – Part 5

Now that we all understand what the Grace or New Covenant is all about. The next question we need to answer is who does it apply to.

B) Who does the Grace Covenant apply to?

Jeremiah 31:31 (ESVST)

31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah,

It is very clear from the above verse that the new covenant, just like the old covenant, was going to be between God and the house of Israel. This means the new covenant was also going to be for Israel.

C) Is this Grace Covenant still applicable?

1 Peter 1:3-5 (ESVST)

Born Again to a Living Hope

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God ‘s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

John 5:24-29 (ESVST)

Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.

25 “ Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. 26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. 27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. 28 Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.

Acts 1:9-11 (ESVST)

And when he had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight. 10 And while they were gazing into heaven as he went, behold, two men stood by them in white robes, 11 and said, “ Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”

Matthew 24:29-30 (ESVST)

The Coming of the Son of Man

29 “ Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

Revelation 19:11-13 (ESVST)

11 Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on hishead are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God.

All these verses I quoted above show that this very same Jesus Christ that came to die and rise from the death, thereby making the old covenant obsolete and ushering in the grace covenant, is the same Jesus who in the last days, will be sitting on his throne having been given all authority to judge. He will send those that did not believe in him to eternal hell and those that believed in him will have ETERNAL LIFE. Now, eternal life means just that, eternal life and last days means just that, last days. This simply shows that this new covenant is going to be around until the last days. Is it applicable, yes indeed because, it is the covenant by which all will be judged when Jesus comes back. So it is definitely applicable.

D) Is the Grace Covenant applicable to Gentiles or Non Jews?

Galatians 3:8 (ESVST)

And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “ In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

The verse above shows that it was always God’s plan to save the Gentiles by faith. Abraham was told that in him, all nations shall be saved and by all nations, it means all nations. Not only Israel but, all nations. The verse indicates that it was never God’s plan to save Gentiles by the law or the old covenant. It was always God’s plan to save the Gentiles by faith. Now, by faith means, faith in Jesus Christ which means saved by grace, which means the new grace covenant is applicable to Gentiles. How did God plan to do this?

Romans 11:25-26 (ESVST)

25 Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written,

“The Deliverer will come from Zion,

he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”;

God hardened the hearts of the Israelites until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. Until the fullness of the Gentiles have been saved by grace through faith.

Romans 11:30-31 (ESVST)

For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, 31 so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.

Gentiles were previously disobedient to God and now have received mercy because of Israel’s disobedience. Now, Israel is also disobedient so that Israel may also receive mercy.

Ephesians 2:11-13 (ESVST)

11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands — 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 3:4-6 (ESVST)

When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, 5 which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. 6 This mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

Gentiles who were once very far from God and his blessings were brought near by the blood of Jesus Christ. Jesus’s death on the cross made Gentiles also heirs of the promise in Jesus through the gospel. How did Jesus do this?

Ephesians 2:15-18 (ESVST)

by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.

Jesus’s death and resurrection abolished the old covenant and its laws and by doing that, removed that, that separated Jews from Gentiles and created in himself one new man who neither Jew or Gentile. Through Jesus, both the Jews and the Gentiles both have access in one spirit to the Father.

Now I know that there are those that argue that the laws being referred to in the above verse are not the Ten Commandments but the ceremonial laws. Well,I say it does not matter, Jesus abolished the whole of the old covenant together with all of its laws. None of those laws exists. So, by abolishing the whole of the old covenant, it goes without saying that this verse will still be applicable wether it meant the Ten Commandments or the ceremonial law.

Ephesians 2:19-22 (ESVST)

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Therefore, Gentiles are now fully part of the kingdom of God through the grace covenant ushered in and made possible by the blood of Jesus Christ.

E) Summary and Conclusion

The old covenant was ushered in through Moses and made obsolete by God himself when he introduced the new covenant. The old covenant was based on obedience to the law. In the old covenant, righteousness was based on the law. The old covenant could never take away the sins of the Jews. They always lived under the power of sin. The old covenant was only applicable to the Jews or Israel. The Gentiles were never a part of the old covenant and were never intended to be part of it. The old covenant was the Ten Commandments and all other laws that God gave through Moses. The Ten Commandments are the old covenant and if the old covenant is obsolete, so are they. The old covenant was made obsolete by God through the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The new covenant or the grace covenant replaced the old covenant and made it obsolete. The grace covenant was ushered in through Jesus by God. The new covenant was introduced because of the mercy of God on us. By God’s grace and his own will, he forgave all our sins and made us his people. God washed us, cleaned us and poured his Holy Spirit in us. By God’s grace and his own will, he send his son to die on our behalf and thereby pay the ransom for our release from the bondage of the law and sin and death. Through the faith that we have in Jesus, we then have access to God’s grace and have an eternal life. This new covenant is based solely on faith and not works of the law. In this new covenant, the law is no longer applicable.

Gentiles should not involve themselves in the old covenant that is dead and was never applicable to them in the first place. Instead, Gentiles should be concentrating on thanking, praising and glorifying God for sending his son Jesus, so that through him, we also can be part of the promise.

However, as a Gentiles, if you still want to comply with the requirements of a dead covenant which the people who it was made to could not even comply to, that is your choice. This is what Paul said to those that were saved by grace through faith who still insisted on the law:

Galatians 3:1-7 (ESVST)

By Faith, or by Works of the Law?

1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. 2 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? 4 Did you suffer so many things in vain —if indeed it was in vain? 5 Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith — 6 just as Abraham “ believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”?

7 Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham.

May God bless all these messages and may they found good soil to grow into and produce even more fruits.

Amen

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